


90 Days

by mylifeisloki



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 90 day fiance AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:20:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26108602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mylifeisloki/pseuds/mylifeisloki
Summary: Steve meets Russian native Natasha online and sparks fly between them. How will they fare once Natasha travels to New York to live with (and marry) her American man?
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov
Comments: 25
Kudos: 115





	1. Before the 90 Days

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, it's been a while, hasn't it? Fingers crossed that I can turn a quarantine-long obsession with 90 Day Fiance and all the spinoffs into an actual fic.

As a kid, Steve had always been a mouthy little thing. Bucky always said he’d used his words to make up for the fact that he was so small, but Steve saw it differently. The reality was that he just said what he would have said regardless of how he looked; it just came across differently because he was a small guy who didn’t have the muscle to back him up when his words got him into trouble. Needless to say, his childhood hadn’t exactly been easy, but Steve looked back on it with fondness anyway because it had made him the person he grew up to be.

That is, he grew up to be even more mouthy and steadfast in his beliefs, but now he had the build to make sure that he could defend himself too. He’d managed to grow up in his own time and now that he didn’t necessarily need Bucky to punch anyone out for him, he could antagonize anyone he wanted… much to Bucky and his mother’s displeasure. Steve saw it as a good thing, especially with his mother’s declining health in recent years and Bucky’s PTSD making it more and more difficult to rely on them for his own protection. They would argue that he had never relied on them for anything of the sort (and his impressive medical record would back that up), but Steve disagreed. He relied on them more than he wanted to when he was younger and he hadn’t always made good decisions either. He hadn’t made it easy for them.

Apparently, despite the age and the wisdom that came with it, Steve was still making somewhat controversial decisions. At least he wasn’t getting fists thrown at him this time.

“This is stupid.”

Steve glared at Bucky over the top of his coffee cup. “Why’s it stupid? You’re always telling me to get out there and meet someone. Well, I’ve met someone.”

Bucky pressed his lips together. “I’ve gotta admit, when I imagined it, you weren’t bringing a commie over here to marry you. Mail order bride, much?” Still clearly disapproving of the whole thing, Bucky took an overly aggressive bite of his danish and chewed like he was trying to work out exactly what to say next. When he spoke, his mouth was still half full and he gestured to Steve with the remainder of his pastry in his hand.

“You’re telling me that you think it’s totally fine that some hot Russian chick wants to just up and marry you,” he said sarcastically. “Like she doesn’t just wanna come here for the green card.”

“Come on,” Steve groaned. “You’ve gotta know me better than that. She’s not like that.”

“You don’t know what she’s like, you barely know her!” 

“Buck, I’m not that much of a catch,” he huffed. “It’s not like I can give her all the money in the world or something. She really likes me.” He paused and averted his gaze a little. “I really like her too.”

Steve knew that Bucky would bend, and he knew that Bucky would support him no matter what, but he was being genuine here. Yes, he and Natasha had met online. Yes, she was born and raised in Russia. Yes, she was trying to come with him in the US. But that didn’t mean she was in it for the green card! They’d been talking for almost a year now and they had a real connection, okay? They got each other even with the language barrier and when Steve had visited her in Russia a couple of months ago (under the guise of a ‘vacation’ to Spain), things had gone really well, even if they’d strictly kept it friendly.

“Don’t give me those puppy dog eyes, I swear to God.” Bucky gruffy finished up his danish and licked his fingers before reaching for his coffee cup again. Honestly, he was more intimidating while having breakfast than anyone had the right to be. “So now what? You going to Russia or something?”

Steve shrugged a little bit. “I… sort of already went.” Bucky glared and Steve quickly continued. “Not Spain, you know? But yeah, I went to see her and we got along, I swear. She’s amazing. And a couple of months ago, we started the whole visa process. She could be approved any day now. When she comes, we’ve got 90 days to either get married or call it quits.”

Bucky narrowed his eyes. “You’re an idiot,” he said plainly. “You know that, right?”

“I’ll take it. I’ve been called worse.”

Eventually, once they’d caught up about how therapy was going for Bucky and all that, they got up to leave and Bucky let out a snort. “Oh, wow. Wow.” He grabbed Steve’s shoulder with his good hand and grinned. “ _ Please _ let me be there when you tell your mom.”

It was pretty impressive that despite the fact that Steve had arranged to go see his mother one random Thursday night, Bucky just happened to be there too. He was already fed and lounging around in the living room while Sarah plunked a plate of food down in front of a distinctly unimpressed Steve and sat down beside him. 

“You’re too skinny; eat something.”

Steve had definitely already eaten, but that was okay. He could always eat more and Sarah wouldn’t let him get away with anything else anyway, so he dug right in. 

“Not that I don’t love having you, but I get the feeling I’m not going to like what you have to tell me.” Sarah knew  _ everything _ . “Do you want to get it over with or should you finish eating first?”

Steve considered his options and ignored Bucky huffing out a laugh in the corner. “Um. Well, Ma, I mean I can tell you right now that I’ve met somebody.”

Sarah didn’t even bother concealing her surprise. “You did! Oh, that’s great! What’s she like? When do I get to meet her?”

“Well, see, that’s the thing. She kind of… doesn’t live right here, so…”

“Oh, is she in Jersey, or…?”

Bucky let out a loud laugh and Steve turned to glare at him.

“Ma, she actually lives in Russia. A little town outside Moscow, to be exact. We met online.”

The silence that followed was pret-ty uncomfortable; so uncomfortable, in fact, that Steve could hear Bucky shifting in the recliner without trying very hard at all. His mother looked somewhere between shock and suspicious and something akin to disbelief. 

“But… you’ve never been to Russia,” she said slowly. “Has she visited here?”

Steve quickly swallowed the mouthful of food he was working on. “Well… no…”

Silence.

“I went to Russia on my last vacation, not Spain.”

Sarah looked very much like Bucky in that moment. “Steve, are you sure this is wise?”

“I really like her.” 

“That may be true, but that doesn’t mean she feels the same.”

“She does, though. She does.”

As expected, there was blowback. Sarah didn’t particularly approve of any of this, although she did want him to be happy, of course. She asked a couple of pointed questions, like Natasha’s name and what she did for a living and whether or not Steve had a picture he could show them. He did, and he showed both Sarah and Bucky, who let out a low whistle in approval-- or surprise; Steve couldn’t tell which.

“How many pictures of her do you actually have?” Bucky asked as he examined the picture. “Does she have an Instagram?” He paused and looked up at Steve. “Oh, God. Please tell me she’s not an Instagram model.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “I told you, she’s a dancer.”

Bucky nodded slowly. “What  _ kind _ of dancer?”

All in all, it wasn’t terrible. Steve imagined it might have gone better if he’d had a girlfriend right there in New York, but such was life. Natasha was someone special; she was someone to whom he felt this inconceivable connection. Steve wasn’t going to just write her off because people around him didn’t understand how he could possibly take this seriously.

The next morning, he woke up to a couple of messages from Natasha and checked them while he was still in bed. Since Moscow was a full seven hours ahead, he very often woke up to messages just because she was already halfway through her day. By the time Steve woke up at five for his run, it was lunchtime on her end. 

[черный_лебедь]: Get up, sleepy.

[черный_лебедь]: How did go with mom?

[CapSteve88]: Not so bad. She asked a lot of questions about you.

[CapSteve88]: Showed them a picture too. Pretty sure they think you’re way too beautiful for me. 

[черный_лебедь]: I am, yes?

[CapSteve88]: Oh, definitely. 

Satisfied with their early morning exchange, Steve headed into the shower and got dressed for his run. It was his habit to leave his phone at home while he was running so he had no distractions, so he did just that and came home to more messages, a couple of funny things Natasha had found online, and a series of selfies from what looked like a public bathroom somewhere. He grinned and returned a selfie of his own before reading everything else she wrote and settling down for the morning; his first appointment was at noon.

And life continued as usual for a while. Steve relished his work as a personal trainer if only because it kept him in shape and he felt like it was an easy job to do. Motivating people was something he felt he was pretty well suited for, especially considering his time in the army. He wasn’t a drill sergeant or anything, but he was very capable of being a little more vocally intimidating if that was what his client wanted. Every day, Natasha was the highlight. Every day, he’d look forward to her messages, her pictures, her little updates. Steve knew he was really falling for her and while it was scary, he couldn’t help but be happy about it.

[CapSteve88]: You know, you’re the favorite part of my day, every day.

[черный_лебедь]: You know, you say too sweet things. 

[CapSteve88]: Oh, you don’t like the sweet things I say?

[черный_лебедь]: I not say that.

[черный_лебедь]: I miss you.

[CapSteve88]: I miss you too, Tasha.

And then, the day came.

Steve was still in bed when his phone began to ring signaling a video call from Natasha. That in itself wasn’t too strange as she did call him that way every so often, but it was usually at night, or at a time they’d previously agreed upon. Rolling over, he raked a hand through his messy hair and answered the call with a sleepy smile.

“Hey, beautiful,” he greeted. “This is a surprise.”

Natasha beamed at him, her hair blowing in the wind behind her. God, she was just so effortless, it was insane. The woman woke up looking like a goddess and every time Steve had a thought like that, he felt like a perv. 

“Я понял,” she said proudly. “Steve, I got it!” 

Steve smiled, but his brow furrowed in confusion. “Got what?”

“We’re approved,” she answered. “I got the visa!” 


	2. Day One

Once Natasha received the good news that she had been approved for her visa to go to the United States and be with Steve, it felt like everything moved very quickly. She began packing the very next day, throwing years and years of clothing into two huge suitcases and spending ages on the floor of her bedroom trying to decide what she could live without. After all, bringing her whole life to New York felt… well, expensive. She would be starting a brand new life there; did she really need to bring every single piece of her old life with her?

Of course, there was always the possibility that she was sent back to Russia before the ninety days was up. Even though she felt a real connection with Steve, they’d only met the one time in person and there were a lot of things they didn’t know about each other. Still, Natasha had never been one to err on the side of caution or give in to her fear, so she was going to try this and give it her all. That isn’t to say that she  _ wasn’t _ scared; she just wasn’t going to show it.

Besides, every time she found herself feeling a little too apprehensive about the whole thing, she’d remember the look on Steve’s face when she met him at the airport for his visit. He’d looked so  _ elated _ to see her, so utterly open and vulnerable. If it hadn’t been so charming, it might have been just a little off putting, but all that was swept away as she was swept up into his arms in the bear hug to end all bear hugs. She really did like him a lot. Natasha was keenly aware of the fact that in her heart, she might have even loved him already.

Maybe it was a good thing she didn’t have any friends to speak of, because she couldn’t have explained her feelings for Steve if she tried. He was sweet and honest and  _ hot _ , but there was something else there and she couldn’t put words to it. She felt like his energy just matched hers, or something. No one was asking anyway, so she didn’t have to try too hard to describe it.

Two weeks later, she quit her job with a flourish and a smile. Natasha couldn’t exactly say that she would miss the club she’d been working at for the last couple of years. All that training and she was condemned to swinging her hips as she served drinks to horny old men; it was a real shame, but hopefully she could start over in New York. Hopefully, she’d have more opportunities there than she did in Russia. At the very least, she could put her history behind her for good.

One more week and the time had come! Natasha splurged on a taxi to take her to the airport and lugged her suitcases down four narrow flights of stairs all by herself. As they drove through the city, she looked out the window with a sense of fondness-- but not regret for her choice to leave. Russia was always going to be her home in some sense of the word; she’d been raised there, she’d spent her childhood there. Her parents… 

Well. There was no point in dwelling on the past now.

At the airport, she checked her bags and took a video while she walked to the correct gate.

“Hi, Steve!” She said happily as she waved into the camera. “I am at airport coming to see you! Next stop, London!” 

Her English would improve, she was sure of that. Natasha was already trying her best to pronounce things clearly, although she assumed that being around other people speaking English all the time would help her with that. 

The first leg of her journey was actually only four hours. Natasha boarded the plane bound for Heathrow and settled in with her headphones in and a movie playing on the screen in front of her. She didn’t want to sleep and risk being too tired to enjoy her London hotel room while she was there overnight, even if all she could really do was sleep and enjoy the TV. Maybe she’d video chat with Steve from there, once she was settled in for the night. She knew he’d be up waiting to hear from her before he went to bed.

Arriving in London was pretty exciting for Natasha, who happily made her way to Terminal 3 and checked in at Aerotel for the night. Fourteen hours was a little too long for her to just sit on the airport floor and wait for her next flight, so she’d gone through the trouble of securing a room instead. Besides, now she could sit on the bed, cross legged with her hair tied up in a messy bun, and call Steve.

“Hey, you made it!” He said immediately as he grinned and looked around her. “Nice room. Wish I was there with you.” Steve cleared his throat and Natasha could see even as he scratched at his jaw that he turned a little red; he probably hadn’t meant for that to sound as suggestive as it did. “So, uh, everything going okay so far?”

“Yeah, everything’s good,” she answered. “My next flight is tomorrow morning and then I call you from Paris.” After that, she had another short layover and her final flight mid-morning. She wouldn’t actually get to Steve until tomorrow afternoon, after about ten full hours of traveling. “I can’t wait to see you,” she added. “You are ready for me?” 

Steve smiled widely. “Oh, I’m ready,” he assured her. “I’ve got people waiting to meet you, I’ve got all kinds of foods I know you like… I’m ready.”

Natasha honestly couldn’t wait. She did have some questions about certain things (mainly the sleeping arrangements considering they’d kept it so  _ friendly _ thus far) but she decided that she’d find out when she got there. She trusted Steve and if she knew him at all, she knew that he’d have the couch all set up--- for himself.

“I want a big hug when you see me,” she said confidently. “Toes off the ground.”

“Toes off the ground, huh?” He laughed. “I think I can make that happen.”

They talked for a while longer about how the flight had been and how Natasha felt about leaving Russia behind, but eventually Steve yawned pretty widely and she insisted he go to bed. She needed to sleep too, after all. She had a long day ahead of her tomorrow. 

The next morning, Natasha woke up far too early and gathered her things to head back down to the gate. It wasn’t even half past six when they took off and she almost fell right back to sleep before the seatbelt sign went off, but she knew there was no point; she’d be back in another airport in less than two hours. 

Paris came as something of a shock to her if only because she was so tired. Bag in hand, she wandered over to the nearest restroom and splashed some cold water on her face before going back out in search of food. She only had an hour or so to eat and then she needed to find the next gate, so she picked the nearest restaurant and tried her best to order food she would eat. While she waited, she took a few selfies and sent them to Steve so he knew she was alright even though he wouldn’t get them until he woke up. The food turned out to be delicious, although she did regret eating as she got back on the plane again so soon.

With eight and a half hours ahead of her, a slightly emptier stomach might have been the better way to go. Luckily, she was able to fall asleep all curled up next to the window and dreamt peacefully about Steve and New York and all kinds of wonderful things--- for only five hours, though. She supposed she was luckier than some others who looked like they’d be up the whole time. Still, she’d make an effort to look effortless. With half an hour to go, she went to the bathroom and brushed her hair, reapplied deodorant and perfume, and applied some lip gloss just for the hell of it. She doubted Steve was going to choose now to lay one on her, but a girl could hope. 

The process of actually deplaning and going through customs and whatnot took much longer than she would have liked, but soon enough she had her suitcases with her again and she made her way towards the exit knowing that Steve would be waiting for her. In fact, the closer she got, the more excited she became. He was probably right there in front, probably vibrating with excitement just like she was. He was probably going to give her the hug she’d asked for and then some because he was that kind of person.

Rounding the corner, she trotted out and scanned the crowd for a familiar face-- a face that she finally laid eyes on as he was waving to her and pushing his way through the crowd. There it was, right there. That smile. 

Natasha abandoned her bags and ran the last few feet to meet Steve and jump up into his arms again. He lifted her up as promised and hugged her tight as he buried his face in her shoulder. It didn’t matter how difficult things might be going forward; this feeling was the one thing she recognized as being worth all the struggle in the world and this feeling came inextricably with Steve.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” he said as he put her down. His hand touched her cheek and Natasha smiled up at him even though she still felt really tired. 

“I’m here,” she said gleefully. “And I’m starving. There is food, yes?”

Steve laughed out loud and it was a sound Natasha had severely missed hearing in person. As she stepped back, she took just a moment to appreciate that Steve was exactly as handsome as he had been when he visited, and just a touch more handsome than he had been in his pictures online. He was wearing blue and his beard was nice and trimmed; all in all, Natasha felt very much like latching onto him so no one around them made the mistake of thinking he was available.

“Yeah, there’s food. How’s Chinese for dinner tonight? Nice and easy.”

Natasha grabbed one of her suitcases while Steve pulled the other behind him. “As long as it taste good,” she said. “Do you bring car?”

“Not exactly, no,” he said apologetically. “Don’t own one. But we’re gonna take a cab back to my place. Can’t exactly let you ride a bike with all this luggage.”

Natasha blinked as they exited the building and stood on the curb waiting for a cab to pull up. “A bike?” she repeated slowly. “You have bike?”

Steve smiled and he looked like he was trying not to laugh, so Natasha lightly elbowed him in the side. “I have a bike, yeah,” he confirmed. “A motorcycle.”

Realization dawned on Natasha’s face as a cab pulled up and Steve began loading her bags into the trunk. Steve didn’t want to spend money on a car, but he spent on a motorcycle? Was that a sound financial decision? What did that say about Steve as a person?

“I never been on one of those before,” she said as she slipped into the backseat of the cab. “Is safe?”

Steve hesitated a little bit as he slid in next to her, but eventually shrugged a little bit. “I mean, it’s not the safest thing in the world,” he said. “But I’ve never had an accident and I’m okay so far.”

“If it not safe, why you not have car instead?”

“Thing is that if I have to get somewhere, I’d rather take the train. But if I do have to drive, then taking the bike is a lot easier where traffic is concerned. I can just--” He gestured with his hand. “--You know, get around the cars.”

“I not want you get hurt,” she said. “But I want to try your bike. I can ride with you?”

“Of course,” he agreed quickly. “I’ll take you out sometime this week, while the weather’s still nice.”

Once Steve gave his address to the driver, he seemed to settle into some kind of anxious silence. Natasha watched as he rubbed his palms over his thighs and shifted nervously. 

“What wrong?” 

“Nothing.” Steve looked over to her and quickly averted his gaze. “Sorry, I’m just nervous. I know you’ve seen pictures and I’ve told you a lot of stuff, but… I don’t know, I guess I’m worried you’re not gonna like everything.”

Natasha thought it was sweet that he would worry about something like that; she was in the US for him, not for his house or his bike or anything else. Of course she wanted to be happy, but Natasha didn’t think she was too high maintenance or anything. After all, she was going from a tiny, cramped apartment all by herself in Russia to an apartment where she would be sharing a space (and possible a bed) with Steve. That in itself was a pretty massive improvement.

“I’m here for you,” she said smoothly-- well, as smoothly as she could in English. “Your house is not, um…” She paused and made a face. “Важный, important.”

“I just want you to be happy here.”

Natasha rolled her eyes at him and leaned in close. “I  _ am _ happy,” she said slowly, making sure he understood every syllable. Ah, if only they’d kissed before. Natasha wasn’t a sentimental fool, but she didn’t want their first kiss to be in the back of a taxi. 

Steve smiled and bashfully dropped his head for a moment. “I’m glad.”

For the rest of the ride home, Natasha held onto Steve’s arm and let her head rest against his shoulder while he ordered food on his phone so it would get to his place when they arrived. She had a few moments when reality sunk in and she realized that she was not only in a completely new place with someone she’d really only known for a few months, but that she was completely at his mercy. They had 90 days to get married and she wouldn’t be able to work until her green card was processed, which would take a couple months more than that. Would Steve be able to support them both on his salary? What if things didn’t work out? Would she be shipped back home like a defective return?

No. No, Steve wouldn’t do that to her.

Soon enough, the highway faded into buildings and homes and stores. Natasha kept her eyes open and tried to take it all in, but everything was moving very quickly and she was  _ very _ tired. The only two things she could really concentrate on right now were food and sleep. Even as the car stopped and they got out, Natasha wanted to just lay down all over again. Steve was nice enough to grab her bags and hand her his key while he led the way into the large building in front of them. It wasn’t easy to make out a lot of details given how late it had gotten, but Natasha didn’t actually care at the moment. They loaded themselves into a little elevator and Natasha pressed the button with the number ‘3’ on it, as instructed.

“You okay?”

Steve looked so happy just then; Natasha had no choice but to smile in return even if she was really, really tired. 

“Yes, why you ask?”

“You’re quiet.”

“Tired,” she mumbled with a soft laugh. “I need sleep.”

When the doors opened again, Steve led the way down a hallway and stopped in front of number 341.

“This is us,” he said. “Go ahead and unlock the door, will ya?”

Natasha did as she was told and unlocked the door, stepping for the very first time into her new home with Steve. She had to admit, at least to herself, that the initial impression was kind of disappointing. The apartment didn’t seem very big and while it was very, very neat, she felt that the decoration of the place was very--- impersonal. 

“Here, let me show you around…” 

Steve took her on a tour; living room, bathroom, bedroom, kitchen. Oh, the kitchen was so very small. Were all apartments in New York like this one? Were the apartments she’d seen on TV and in movies just a thing of fiction? Was Steve poor?

“Steve,” she said eventually, interrupting him as he talked about how he’d gotten a new fridge recently because the last one just stopped on him. “Food will be here soon?”

Right on cue, there was a knock at the door and Steve answered it to take the food from the delivery man. He presented it to Natasha and led the way into the kitchen to put everything on the table for her, along with a fork and a glass of water. Honestly, Natasha didn’t know what half the items on the table were, but her stomach growled and she dug in right away, tasting a little bit of everything until she settled on a couple of dishes she liked the most and filling up her plate. She was halfway through when she glanced up and noticed Steve watching her with a little smile on his face and his fork poised halfway to his own food.

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing,” he said quickly. “I’m just real happy you’re here.”

Well, that was sweet. Natasha smiled and set her fork down to take a long drink of her water instead, but her eyes never really left Steve. He was something special, wasn’t he? She’d felt it from the very beginning; he was one in a million.

“You have things for, um, for tomorrow?”

Steve raised his eyebrows. “Things… planned? Yeah, I figured we’d take a day to ourselves, kind of… get to know each other a little more. I want to take you out for a nice dinner and show you around the neighborhood and everything.”

Natasha nodded as she continued to eat. “When I meet Mom?” She was nervous about it, but she didn’t want any of that to show; it was just that people were quick to judge and she didn’t know much about Steve’s family other than that it was very small.

“We’re going over to her place for dinner on Sunday,” he explained. “You’ll meet her and Bucky then.”

Bucky was probably even more of a wild card than Steve’s mom. Natasha knew almost nothing about him other than that he was Steve’s best friend and that they’d served in the military together. She knew he had some issues too, but the extent of those issues remained a mystery, as did his feelings about her decision to come to the US. 

“Try not to think about it too much,” Steve said knowingly. “They’re not bad people, it’ll all be okay.”

“Sorry,” she said easily, letting out a small laugh. “Very tired.”

“Right, of course.” Steve hesitated for a moment and rubbed at the back of his neck. “Um, do you want to…”

He looked like he was going to say something, but ultimately changed his mind and shook his head like he was getting rid of the very idea of it. 

“Here, let me get you settled.” 

He got up, grabbed her bags, and led her down the hall to the bedroom again. “Bed’s all yours, new sheets and everything, and I already put fresh towels and a new toothbrush in the bathroom. Feel free to shower or… whatever you want to do, you know? Make yourself at home. I’m just gonna grab some things so I don’t wake you up tomorrow morning…”

As he moved to rustle around in his dresser, Natasha tipped her head to the side in confusion. “You will too sleep here, yes?”

Steve straightened up and turned back to her. “I didn’t want to assume,” he said quickly. “I can take the couch, I mean--”

“Steve, we are get married,” she said as she stepped closer to him. “You not want to share bed?”

Poor Steve. Natasha realized with some amusement that her new roommate, her future husband, her ex-army boyfriend of sorts, was blushing. 

“It’s not that I don’t  _ want _ to, I just figured  _ you _ might not want to, so…”

Well. Maybe they’d kept it friendly in Russia, but the truth was that Natasha wanted very much to share a bed with Steve. She wanted to touch him all over, as a matter of fact, but he seemed kind of hesitant about it so she was just taking her time and working up to it. With that in mind, she’d give him a reason to stay that didn’t involve crossing the very obvious line between ‘friends’ and ‘lovers’. 

“I don’t want sleep alone,” she admitted; she was telling the truth in some sense, at least.

She could see Steve’s throat bob as he swallowed thickly. “Okay. Then I’ll stay with you.”

Natasha shooed him out of the room so she could get her bearings and she could hear him puttering around in the kitchen as she wandered into the bathroom for a quick shower. By the time she came out with wet hair and dressed in a pair of shorts and a tshirt to sleep in, Steve was anxiously standing in the living room pacing back and forth. 

“We go to bed?” 

For the first time, Natasha felt very exposed. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, she was dressed down to the fullest extent, and she was very, very tired. Honestly, she would have felt  _ vulnerable _ were it not for the fact that she trusted Steve, who smiled and turned off the living room light as he followed her down the hall to the bedroom. 

She was the first one to crawl into bed, pulling the sheets down and slipping under them on the left side. Steve followed suit, although it felt like he was careful about keeping space between them; they hadn’t ever shared a bed before and he probably wasn’t sure what he was allowed to do, so Natasha took the initiative and moved closer, shifting until she could lay her arm over his stomach and rest her head on his chest. Steve instinctively moved his arm so it was around her shoulders, his big hand resting warm and solid on her back. He was warm and big and safe, and Natasha melted right into that without any hesitation.

And they fell asleep just like that, nothing spoken between the two of them. Tonight, nothing else needed to be said. 

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thanks for reading! <3


End file.
